Rootie and I went for a drive

It's the 4th of July. Rootietoot actually woke before me this morning, and after I ate some breakfast and had my obligatory 2nd cup of coffee, she suggested we take a ride.

"Where to" asked I.

"Does it matter" was the reply.

So off we go, with a county map that shows ALL the roads, including dirt ones, and a state map for once we crossed the county line. We went through Metter, Millen, Wadley, Barlow, Barstow, Midville, Riddleville, Louisville, Bipperville, Bopperville, Kipperville and Kopperville (10 points to the one who correctly identifies the 'literary' origin of those last 4). Eventually we found ourselves in Sandersville, home of my first job out of college, and where we were when #1 was born (actually we lived in Tennille, a suburb S on Hwy 15). We stopped and ate lunch then rode down to Tennille.

As we went through the mostly abandoned downtown area of Tennille we passed what was McMaster's True Value when we lived there. Mr. McMaster had to have been in his late 80's at the time, and McMaster's True Value was like a trip back in time. It was a genuine old timey hardware store and Mr. McMaster claimed to have anything you could ever need. It became a bit of a game with my father-in-law when they were visiting to try and ask for something obscure, and show that he didn't really have everything. Mr. McMaster always had the thing f-i-l was asking for, from a spring tongue for an old Stanley hand plane to .... whatever. The game culminated after one of my in-laws trips to the home place in Texas, from which he returned with an old hand pump for a well. "I'll get the Old Man this time" he bragged Friday evening when they arrived. He needed to replace the leather gasket and flapper that went inside the old pump. They acted as a check valve to keep the water from going back down as you pumped.

Saturday morning f-i-l and I ride in to town and go into the store. We get us an RC Cola from the old type vending machine that you have to pull the bottle out of, damaging your hand in the process.

"Well, what are you looking for this time, young Mr. Toot?" asked Mr. McMaster after pleasantries were exchanged.

"I need the leathers for a hand pump" said f-i-l with a pleased note in his voice.

"What size" asked Mr. M

"What?!?!"

"Do you need 2 inch, 3 inch, or 4 inch?"

"Uhhh, uhhh it's a 3 inch" said a stunned father-in-law.

"The thick kind or the thin ones? There were 2 different kinds of 3 inch"

"I don't know"

Mr. M dawdles back behind the counter and comes out with a VERY old wooden box. He opens the box and pulls out several oily rags.

"I have to wrap them in oily rags to keep them from drying out" he says, then holding up 2 different sets says "This is the thick one, and this is the thin ones. Which one looks like what you will need?"

"I have no idea"

"Well, pay for one and take both back with you. Send the one you don't need back with Young Mr. Daddio next time he comes to visit you."

Like somebody else might come in one day looking for leathers for manual well pump.